12
What Must I Do?
Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion
What Must I Do?
Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” (verses 36-37). Yes, they were “cut to the heart.” Their sense of guilt overwhelmed them. Hearing Peter’s rebuke, they did not reflect on their good deeds over the years but on the sins that had stained their lives. Indeed, what were they to do? Peter responded immediately: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (verse 38). And that’s exactly what they did. That day alone 3,000 “gladly received his word [and] were baptized” (verse 41).
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
T
he New Testament Church—the spiritual body called and chosen to become God’s faithful people—began with God giving the Holy Spirit to Christ’s disciples on one of His annual festival days, the Feast of Pentecost. Acts 2 records how God’s Spirit came on those who had believed Jesus, accepted His teaching and faithfully followed Him. But the miracles didn’t stop there. Thousands of others who were gathered together that day were amazed by the miracles they saw and heard. As the apostle Peter spoke on that day, he announced that the promised Messiah had come but was rejected and sent to suffer a brutal death. Peter explained that every human being bears responsibility in Christ’s death— not just the Roman soldiers or the small group of Jews who arrested and brought Jesus to trial. In the audience were visitors from nations all around the Mediterranean world and as far away as Parthia and Mesopotamia to the east (Acts 2:7-11). Many of them may not have even been in Jerusalem when Jesus had been put to death earlier in the year. To this diverse audience Peter declared: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (verses 22-24).
God still commands repentance
Since that time, members of God’s faithful Church have continued to preach the same message that Jesus, our Messiah and Savior, brought—the good news of salvation, the Kingdom of God and that all must repent (Mark 1:14-15).
Though they may not have been directly involved in causing Christ’s death, some grasped that the real reason the promised Messiah was crucified was to pay the penalty for the sins they and all other human beings have committed!
iStockphoto
“What shall we do?”
Some of Peter’s listeners recognized the significance of his words. Though they may not have been directly involved in causing Christ’s death, they grasped, from Peter’s powerful preaching, that the real reason the promised Messiah was crucified was to pay the penalty for the sins they and all other human beings have committed! To them Peter’s message was personal and pointed. Peter continued: “‘Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to
13
The response to the message varies. Some pay no attention. Others show only a passing interest. But a few recognize it as the most exciting and important news they have ever heard—a pearl of great price! Perhaps you are one of those. As we have already read, this present evil world is spiritually blinded by Satan (Revelation 12:9; 1 John 5:19). But God is calling a few out of their blindness. If you are one of those whom God is calling to understand His Word and live by it, then you may be asking yourself the same question those who heard Peter on the Day of Pentecost asked: What must I do now? God’s Word tells us that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). That includes us. But it is so much easier for us to see mistakes and wrongdoing in others than it is to see our own faults and shortcomings. Yet we all are guilty of thoughts and actions that are contrary to God’s law of love. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the